What would John Wayne think about the country today?

June 20, 2013

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 12:28 p.m.

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KURT SNIBBE/FOR THE CURRENT

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Six year-old Tommy Larson of Olympia, Wash., circles a nine-foot bronze statue of actor John Wayne while waiting for a flight home at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana. CHRISTINE COTTER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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A nine-foot bronze statue of actor John Wayne stands in the arrival level of the Thomas F. Riley Terminal at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana. CHRISTINE COTTER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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An American flag provides the backdrop for a nine-foot bronze statue of actor John Wayne in the arrival level of the Thomas F. Riley Terminal at John Wayne Airport. CHRISTINE COTTER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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A nine-foot bronze statue of actor John Wayne stands in the arrival level of the Thomas F. Riley Terminal at John Wayne Airport. CHRISTINE COTTER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

In the Duke's name

Besides the airport that carries some 700,000 monthly travelers to and from Orange County, and his former boat, the Wild Goose, that still charters out of Newport Harbor, John Wayne's biggest legacy comes from the support of cancer research. Here are some of the ways the John Wayne Cancer Foundation fights the disease from which the iconic movie star died – in his case, it was stomach cancer – June 11, 1979:

Newport Beach: Ethan Wayne, the sixth of John Wayne's seven children, runs the foundation from its main office here. Nearly all the money raised to fight cancer through the foundation comes from the sale of the Duke's likeness and image.

Irvine: Spot a Spot, Save a Life is a skin cancer education program for youth run through the UC Irvine School of Medicine.

Santa Monica: The John Wayne Cancer Institute at the St. John's Medical Center campus overseas a research tissue bank and provides surgical fellowships for complex oncology treatments.

Needham, Mass: Reel Recovery runs fly fishing trips as part of a support group for men recovering from testicular and prostate cancer.

Denver: First Descents shows young cancer survivors they can still push their bodies through adventure sports trips such as mountain climbing and surfing trips.

Avon, Colo: Roundup River Ranch provides youth dealing with cancer with a summer camp staffed with medical personnel as well as the kind of activities that make lasting childhood memories.

As a young girl, Marisa Wayne remembered wondering why her father would support President Jimmy Carter, when the two had such opposing political views.

John Wayne, after all, was almost as famous a Republican as he was a movie star. He'd campaigned for Barry Goldwater and supported his friend Ronald Reagan from the California governor's mansion to his bid for president in 1976. Yet when Carter was elected to the White House that same year, John Wayne went to his inauguration.

"I would say, 'But he's a Democrat,' " said Marisa, of Newport Beach, who was 13 when her father died 34 years ago. "I was very young and I thought you were either all or nothing."

She remembered her father's answer in that slow, determined drawl:

"He's my president now. I'm an American and I support him. Maybe I disagree with his politics but the people elected him, and I respect him for that."

John Wayne became one of the biggest box office stars in Hollywood history by playing men who followed their own paths, often with stubborn independence. By 1966, he'd been one of the top 10 box office draws for 16 years. During the next four years, he would continue to sell tickets and won an Oscar.

Off the screen, entertainers like Wayne and Frank Sinatra made political activism hallmarks of Hollywood before they became buzzwords. Wayne often is credited, along with Reagan, of helping forge the modern conservative movement in America. But as his own words show, he might be chagrined at the divisiveness between parties today.

"I'm sure he would be disappointed in today's political scene," said Patrick Wayne, of Newport Beach, who co-starred with his father in nine movies. "The biggest part of politics today seems about smearing opponents instead of articulating their differences and projecting your opinions in a positive way. He would work with people and respect the opinions of anyone the people put in office."

With a legacy in Orange County that includes an airport named after him and a foundation that supports the fight against cancer, politics is one part of Wayne's spirit that's frequently misinterpreted.

Just last year, an online analysis by Reuters news service of the presidential election ran under the headline, "How Barack Obama killed John Wayne."

"Wayne was all the things conservative white America believed in as it resisted the pull of modernity," the author, Neal Gabler, wrote. "He was the man blocking the pass."

Actually, had he still been living, Wayne might have campaigned against Obama, but he would have offered his unwavering support once the votes were counted.

"When a Democrat would win, he would write the letter, 'from the loyal opposition,' and capitalize those letters: 'LOYAL OPPOSITION,'" said Ethan Wayne, the sixth of the actor's seven children who runs the John Wayne Cancer Foundation.

On screen, Wayne often played a man of simple values, whose gun and a fist settled disputes just as well as a good talking to. But the man who lived in Newport Beach was more complicated.

He was nattily dressed, well read and gregarious, the kind of man who liked to greet his neighbors with a bullhorn from his private yacht, a retired World War II Minesweeper called the Wild Goose, during the Christmas Boat Parade. He married three Latina women. He once described himself as being soft on women and hard on himself.

He was a fiscal conservative who believed in a capitalist economy and a government who protected its people but otherwise stayed out of the way. He once appeared before the Orange County Board of Supervisors in Santa Ana to endorse an initiative for tax cuts, wearing a yellow polo shirt and pants, a blue blazer and puffing on a cigar.

"The issue is whether government controls the people or people control the government," Wayne said.

But it irked Wayne when people on either side couldn't have a civil debate about their differences. He detested political labels.

"They've called me a right-wing extremist conservative, which I don't feel I ever was, or ever said anything that'd make anyone think I was," Wayne told the Register in 1978.

"I like to listen to everybody's point of view, and I think that's liberal. And then make up my own mind after reasoning as to how I feel."

Appearing on Dean Martin's television show in 1966, Wayne talked about his hopes for his newly born daughter, Marisa.

"I'd like her to know some of the values we knew as kids, some of those values that too many people these days are thinking are old-fashioned," Wayne said. "Most of all, I want her to be grateful, as I am every day of my life, to live in these United States."

Wayne would repeat those same wishes for Marisa at the 1968 Republican National Convention, a speech where he captivated the audience without addressing an empty chair.

The Republican Party was different then. The same night Wayne spoke in Miami, at the convention where Richard Nixon would start his path to the White House, Gov. Daniel Evans of Washington gave the keynote, imploring Republicans to drop its old guard and become the voice for urban renewal, an arm to help pull minorities and the disenfranchised out of poverty.

Or as Wayne told the convention that August night, it was time to make the Republicans "the party who gives a damn."

Marisa Wayne only recently discovered a YouTube video of her father's appearance on the "Dean Martin Show." She said it reminded her of his passion for his country.

John Wayne lived in a time when people didn't talk about red states or blue states, only United States.

"I think he always wanted the parties to work together, or maybe even more, work together for the good of the public," Marisa said. "He loved this country so much, and regardless of who was running it, he wanted to retain what it stands for – the freedom – and wanted everyone working together to maintain that."

FAMILY RECOLLECTIONS ON LIFE WITH JOHN WAYNE

Three of John Wayne's children shared some of their most memorable stories about growing up with a father who was bigger than life:

Ethan Wayne: "My life with him was really specific. I had to have a pocket knife, a Zippo lighter and a wad of beef jerky in my pocket. I had an amazing amount of freedom as a boy. But I had to have those things. He always wanted us to be prepared."

Marisa Wayne: "He wasn't working as much when I came along. He'd take me to school and take me to tennis matches. We had a very close relationship. I remember after school, we'd go to Wil Wright's, an ice cream parlor at PCH and Dover. He loved Wil Wright's Vanilla Bean ice Cream. He had such a big sweet tooth. He'd use me as an excuse to go in there. There was a Bait 'n' Tackle nearby. We'd go there and get some green twine, and he'd wrap it around a yellow plastic holder with a hook. He'd put a piece of cheese on the hook and we'd throw it in the water. I don't think I ever caught anything."

Patrick Wayne: "For me, my dad really displayed true courage the last six weeks of his life. When he went to the UCLA Medical Center for the last time, he visited other patients, went to other rooms to talk to them and try to fill them with hope and faith going forward. He was very sick. Yet he acted like he was going to survive, and we always thought he would come out of it. The last 10 days, he was in a coma. Then on a Saturday night, he came out of the coma. He totally engaged with us. All seven of the kids were there. He laughed with that great sense of humor of his, for a good two hours. Then he went back to sleep and never came out of consciousness again. He died that Monday. Later, we found out when we were bringing him up from Newport Beach to UCLA, he wore a suit. In the hospital, he said, 'Leave that suit hanging up.' Six weeks later, it was the suit he was buried in. He knew what was going on and he was prepared for it."

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